Wednesday, December 19, 2007

South Africa Makes It To The Record Books For The Wrong Reasons

Jerome Taylor celebrates one of his three quick wickets as South Africa were limited to 58 for 8, South Africa v West Indies, 1st Twenty20, Port Elizabeth, December 16, 2007

When Twenty20 cricket was launched in England in 2005 to overcome the boring ODIs,a lot was said about the format being dedicated to only batsman.But after going through this match between South Africa and West Indies,it will make you guys to think once more.Not much can be expected from a South African side who went into the match with key players viz Smith,Kallis & Amla opting out.But in the end hats off to all West Indian players,who went on to make history.It all started with West Indies’ captain D Bravo winning the toss and electing to field on a track where the conditions were ideal for quick bowling, a heavy atmosphere and a pitch with pace and bounce.A devastating opening spell from Taylor whose first delivery beat Morne van Wyk's loose drive, then he followed up with a rapid yorker which beat JP Duminy for pace. AB de Villiers survived the hat-trick delivery but not much longer, although was slightly unfortunatewhen the ball went off the inside edge from a defensive push. Taylor had bowled a triple-wicket maiden; a rarity in any cricketlet alone a 13 over match.-The Above Picture shows the scorerboard of the South African innings

Dyle Styen(Left) fights a lone battle for South Africa taking 4 wickets for 9 runsOwing to torrential rains,the match had to be reduced to 13overs.However,it all looked like South Africa wanted to cut shorteven the 13 overs slot with their poor batting.An outstanding bowling performance from Taylor saw South Africa struggling at 12/6 which went on to become 22/7.The one-handed catch by Chanderpaul at mid-on saw the end of Herschelle Gibbs,and a horrible mix-up between Pollock and Gulam Bodi made things worse for the South Africans.Finally,the only double figure knock down the order by J Botha(28) saw South Africa play their 13 overs slot to save some face,ending up with 58-the lowest team score in Twenty20 cricket(bettering the 73 by Kenyans at the hands of New Zealand in the ICC inaugral Twenty20 World Cup).

Defending such a small total,not much could be expected from the South African side,but a tight spell from its bowlers.With the good work done by the bowlers,West Indian side had totally nothing to worry about. West Indies went hard at the run chase from ball one, literally, as Brenton Parchment walked down the pitch at Shaun Pollock then three balls later launched him out of the ground, half way towards Cape Town.At 32/1, Steyn intervened to pick up 4 wickets but to no longer as Chandrapaul and wicket keeper batsman Dinesh Ramdin set things right for the West Indies at ther end of the day.

The match will be remembered for a lot of reasons for both the teams-one for the batting debacle of the home side,two for the lowest runs conceded in a T20 innings,three for a consecutive three over wicket maiden by Jerome Taylor and last but not the least for the devastating spell of South African Steyn who took 3-0-9-4 inspite of lack of support by his team mates. Brief Scores: South Africa 58/8 in 13 overs- Johan Botha 28;Jerome Taylor 3/6; West Indies 60/5 in 9.5 overs-Mortan 20;Ramdin 12;Dale Steyn 4/9; MoM:Jerome Taylor